Today’s blog islike “show and tell.”  Here aresome great ideas teachers have shared with me over the past few weeks.

Banana DanceBook

You’ve got to goto kinderkaren.blogspot.com and download the adorable book she made to go withthe “Banana Dance.”  Too cute!

Short Vowels

Joanne Poland fromAnniston, AL, has come up with a multi-sensory way for children to remember theshort vowel sounds. 

at thechair – children stand at their chairs as you emphasize the short /a/

edge of thechair – children sit on the edge of their chairs = short /e/

in thechair – children sit in the chair – short /i/

on thechair – children stand on the chair – short /o/

under thechair – children crawl under the chair – short /u/

Catch a Bubble

Melanie Tew ofMobile, AL, sings this song to the tune of “London Bridge” to focus children’sattention:

Catch a bubble inyour mouth,

In your mouth, inyour mouth.

Catch a bubble inyour mouth.

Show it to menow.  (Children puff out cheeks.)

Melanie then walksaround and gently “pops” the bubble by touching their cheeks.

Name Game

Kristin Murray ofRiverdale, GA, shared an interesting activity to do with children’s names.  It’s perfect for the beginning of theschool year.  Put stickers on unifixcubes and write the letters in the children’s names. 

-Count how manyletters in each person’s name.

-Pair children upand see who has more, less, or the same.

-Graph names.  Whose name is shorter, longer, or thesame as the teacher’s name?

Sign Language

You know how muchI LOVE sign language.  aslpro.comis one of my favorite sites because they have a dictionary where you can seesomeone sign almost any word you can think of.  Taylor Dinges of Madison, AL, said that there is also a freeapp called isign lite.  I foundanother free app called alphabet sign language.  Oh, what wonders there are in the app world!

Bbbaaattt

Here’s a greatidea from Megan Stewart and Rachel Patterson.  Take the chorus for “Tooty Ta” and use it for blending CVCwords.

/b/b/b/   /a/a/a/   /t/t/t/  BAT

/p/p/p/  /e/e/e/   /n/n/n/    PEN

PictureSchedules

Rebecca Jett ofMobile, AL. uses pictures schedules for some of her special needschildren.  She recommends insertingpictures for art, PE, or other specials daily so that children don’t getfrustrated.

Singing Science

Sandy Romo of ElPaso has created some songs to help her children learn about the states ofmatter, the water cycle, parts of a plant, forces, and other scienceconcepts.  Here’s the link:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqVuveUgYWw